Sheet-metal vessel.



F. WESTERBECK.

SHEET METAL VESSEL.

APPLICATION men DEC.14,19H.

Patented May 4, 1915.

AbbYs.

mvanhcm'. kiweabwbaok m Mow 5% Atheist 0 611% 51% arr i' i A I FIQ.

SHEET-METAL VESSEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May a, 1915.

' Application filed December 14, 1911. Serial No. 665,638.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK WESTER- BECK, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Metal Vessels, of which the following is a-full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification.

My invention relates to sheet metal vessels, and more particularly to sheet metal buckets of the kind provided with top beads that receive the closures applied to the vessels, and has for its object to provide a vessel of this kind with an internal partly dropped bead of approximately circular or cylindrical form in cross section and located approximately half-way beneath and halfway above the top of the wall of the body from which it is spaced by an arched portion, the terminal edge of which is placed at the exterior of the vessel and merely laps the upper end of the wall and arched portion.

The common practice in making sheet metal vessels having internal top beads that extend inwardly from the upper end of the vessel, as distinguished from extending outwardly therefrom, has been to curl these beads inwardly and downwardly and then outwardly, toward the vessel wall, with the result that the free edges of the beads are located interior of the vessel. Where such vessels are ordinarily made of sheet iron coated with tin, it is obvious that the edges of the beads lack the coating of tin, so that the sheet iron is exposed in such edges; and

it will be apparent that such edges are susceptible of corrosion or rust, when corrosion producing substance, such, for instance, as salt, comes into contact therewith. Vessels so made have consequently been subject to the serious objection of causing the contents placed in the vessels to be discolored by iron rust, or otherwise injured, due to the corrosion of the iron exposed at the edges of the top beads of the vessels. It is furthermore to be mentioned that inasmuch as the edges of such beads are commonly so located at the interiors of the vessels as to be inaccessible to remove moisture, or accumulation of other matter therefrom, it is impossible to cleanse the edges of the beads at which the edge of the iron is exposed; and, there fore, when the vessels are used after the original contents have been removed therefrom, as they frequently are, there always remains the objectionable corrodible edges of the iron by which contents placed into the vessels may be injured or contaminated.

By my improvement, I provide a sheet metal vessel with an internal bead in one piece with the wall thereof, the free edge of which is located entirely exterior of the vessel and merely laps the upper end of the wall thereof, so that the exposed iron therein cannot injure the contents of the vessel, even if it becomes corroded, and the surface of the bead exposed to the vessel contents is entirely smooth, bears the tin coating, and may be readily cleaned.

Figure I is an elevation of a vessel made in accordance with my improvement. Fig. II is an enlarged cross section through the upper end of the wall of my vessel, and its top bead.

In the drawings: 1 designates the body wall of my vessel. This wall is formed at its upper end with a bead A in one piece therewith, that has an inwardly extending arched portion 2, a downwardly extending portion 3, and is curved upwardly from its downwardly extending portion, and finally outwardly and downwardly so as to form an approximately circular or cylindrical bead in cross section located approximately halfway beneath and half-way above the top of the wall of the body, terminating in a free edge 4: that merely laps and rests upon the inturned arched portion 2 at the upper end of the vessel wall. By thus forming the head A, I provide a dropped bead within the wall of the body and locate its terminal edge entirely outside of the vessel and at a point where there is absolutely no opportunity of the contents of the vessel coming into contact with the metal exposed in the edge of the head. The bead being spaced by the arched portion 2 from the wall of the body, access thereto is readily gained for the purpose of cleaning the cavity thus formed.

My invention is particularly applicable to lard and butter pails which are usually packed one above the other for shipment and afterward arranged one above the other in storage, so that the closures of some of the pails support the weight of several other pails. It is therefore highly important that the top edge of the pail be formed so that pressure on the top of the closure will not cause the edge of the pail to spring outwardly against the closure. This would mar the closure and closure seats and firmly bind the closure onto the pail. I therefore deem the following a quite important part of my invention. The closure seats of my im proved vessel are formed by the top of the dropped bead A and the outer portion of the wall 1, the closure (not shown) being an ordinary lard pail cover having a clownturned annular flange which seats on the outer portion of the wall 1. Pressure on the closure will cause the dropped head A to spring downwardly, with the result of moving the free edge l of the metal inwardly away from the closure seat on the outer portion of the wall 1. Hence the pails may be piled one upon the other in the usual man'- ner without liability of the edges l being forced against the closures by the weight of the superposed pails, it being understood that this weight tends to move said edges 4. away from the closure flange.

I claim 1. A sheet metal vessel having an internal dropped bead, the metal being curled inwardly and downwardly from the wall of the vessel, and then upwardly and outwardly, the terminal margin of the metal in the dropped bead being seated upon the metal immediately adjoining the wall of the vessel, and the edge of said terminal margin being exposed above the upper end of said wall between the outer face of the wall of the vessel and the top of said bead.

2. A sheet metal vessel having the wall of its body provided with a dropped internal top bead, the metal being curled inwardly and downwardly from the wall of the vessel; and then upwardly and outwardly, the terminal margin of the metal in the dropped bead lapping onto the inturned portion of the metal directly above the top of the wall of the vessel, the edge of said margin being exposed; the top of said dropped bead providing a seat for a closure and the outer face of said wall providing a second closure seat, the seat on said bead and the seat on said wall being adapted to receive a closure and the exposed marginal edge of the metal in the dropped bead being adapted to move inwardly away from the outer face of said wall in response to pressure by the closure against the top of said dropped bead.

3. A sheet metal vessel having an internal bead formed from the same sheet as that from which the body of the vessel is formed, the metal extending from the upper end of the wall of the vessel being curved upwardly and inwardly to form an inwardly extending upcurved bead supporting element, then downwardly and inwardly toward the center of the vessel and upwardly and outwardly toward the upcurved bead supporting element, the terminal margin of the metal being seated upon the upcurved bead supporting element and its edge being exposed between the top of the bead and the outer face of the wall of the vessel, the

said terminal margin being adapted to move toward the center of the vessel when pressure is exerted upon the top of said bead.

FREDERICK WVESTERBECK.

In the presence of- A. J. MCCAULEY, E. B. LINN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

